Impasto is paint laid on so thickly that it rises above the surface of the canvas. It keeps the shape of the tool that pushed it, the ridges of a brush or the flat smear of a knife, so every mark can be seen and even felt.
Vincent van Gogh used this thick paint famously, in pictures such as The Starry Night.
The name is Italian. It comes from impastare, "to put into paste," built on pasta, the Italian word for paste or dough. English borrowed it in 1784, already as a painters' term for colors laid on thickly.
The comparison is apt. Thick oil paint is firm enough to be pushed, piled and shaped almost like clay.
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Titian and the rough surface
The technique is much older than Van Gogh…
What You'll Discover
Why Vasari defended Titian's rough surfaces.
Why thick paint catches light differently.
What Rembrandt did with the end of his brush.
What Van Gogh told his brother about thick paint.
Why thick strokes crack as they dry.
The painting that weighs more than a ton.